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Jonathan10

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I was recently diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy ( couple of weeks ago) and am having a hard time adjusting to the meds. Not only do the side effects have an effect on me but the event itself. A couple of years ago I tore my ACL in my left knee (major tendon in your knee) and at the visit with my surgeon I had my first ever, to my knowledge, seizure and was later diagnosed. As a college athlete the knee and epilepsy issues have been very hard to deal with. Just as I was about to finally fully recover from my knee injury this happens. I'm always tired but when I go to bed I'm wide awake, really frustrating.
It has been very hard coping with all of this as I have been extremely depressed and lonely and even had suicidal thoughts especially when I consume alcohol, which is daily. I find this issue very embarrassing to talk about with family or friends so I made an account here. Any comments or thoughts anyone would like to share would be appreciated.
 
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Hi, and welcome to CWE
First of all, make yourself aware of the potential influences of alcohol on seizures, and the effect of any interactions between alcohol and the medications you are on. As you are probably aware, alcohol is in fact a depressant and this combined with any epilepsy-related depression will make your depression even worse.
As for medication side effects, some can definitely be difficult to deal with. For many people it takes as long as a couple of months to adjust to anti-seizure medications. A couple weeks unfortunately is often not long enough to really tell if the medications will help and if the side effects will diminish.
You haven't said what medication(s) you are on or what your side effects are, but in rare cases epilepsy medications can cause suicidal thoughts, and this should be taken up with your neurologist. From what you say it is hard to know if the deep depression is medication-induced or not. Either way, it warrants mentioning to your neurologist.
Good luck!
 
I understand that alcohol is a depressant but being a college student and athlete it is almost impossible to avoid its use despite its effects. The medication is vimpat. Not really looking to talk about my personal emotions or feelings with my doctor although typing that doesn't make much sense as I read it over. I don't share much about myself with many other people even my close family and friends maybe because of the way I was raised thats why I'm using this site but that has made this whole thing very hard. I've also only had 1 seizure ever in my life so this taking meds everyday for the rest of my life seems a little excessive. Thanks for sharing though
 
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It is unusual to be taking an anti-seizure medication after only one seizure. What do you think the trigger was for your seizure - lack of sleep, alcohol, drugs (prescribed or otherwise), severe stress . . . ?

Were you prescribed the medication by a neurologist? Was your EEG and/or MRI abnormal? If no to any or all of these, then I would consider seeking a second opinion, preferably from an epileptologist (a neurologist who specializes in epilepsy).
 
When I had that one seizure I was already in the hospital for a last checkup on my knee. I didn't even know I had a seizure until they told me because I blacked out and woke up a couple of hours later in a hospital bed. They did a bunch of tests like CT scan, EEG, MRI and a couple others and my neurologist looked it over and told me I had temporal lobe epilepsy. Still not sure what triggered it but I have drank and smoked recreationally after my seizure many times and it has not triggered any seizures. Still adjusting to all the info on epilepsy and my medication.
 
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Hello welcome to CWE.
It is important you get sleep , sleep deprivation can cause a seizure in some. The meds can't be taken with alcohol or you can end up having more seizures,and the meds can also cause depression and suicidal thoughts is among the side effects for some.
Why do you find the issue of epilepsy embarrassing? :e::ponder:
 
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